בס׳ד

"Where does it say that you have a contract with G-d to have an easy life?"

the Lubavitcher Rebbe



"Failure is not the enemy of success; it is its prerequisite."

Rabbi Nosson Scherman



1 Nov 2012

The rainbow

Con Ed said today it’ll take until the weekend of Nov. 10 to restore power to a “vast majority” of its customers.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/power_restored_to_con_ed_customers_VVVuQ58feKcmiXaPo6w1dO

What about electronic voting in those areas on November 6?????

Double Rainbow Over Manhattan After Sunday Storm (PHOTOS)

A question posed about a rainbow brought about an interesting discussion at judaism.stackexchange. Below is an excerpt.

There is a popular idea that seeing a rainbow is a bad sign, as if the world is deserving of a deluge (c"v) and the only reason Hashem does not do so is because of His promise. Is there any source for this? And if so, how does that square with the fact that rainbows are a natural occurrence caused by the refraction of light (as noted by Ramban in Parshas Noach 9:12)?

•The Midrash (Bereshit Rabba 35:2) tells us that there were two generations that did not see a rainbow. Rashi (Ketuvot 77B) explains that when the generation has leaders who are perfectly righteous, the generation does not need a rainbow so that G-d can remind himself not to destroy the world.
http://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/10065/rainbow-as-a-bad-omen



R' Pinchas Eliyahu Horowitz of Vilna z"l (19th cent.) writes: There is no reason why parties who wish to make a sign between themselves cannot choose an existing natural object to be that sign. Something is a "sign" because people decide to treat it as such. There are three reasons why a rainbow is a fitting sign that G-d will not bring another flood:
  1. Since the rainbow appears near the end of the rain, it reminds us that G-d will soon stop the rain because of His kindness, even if we are not deserving.
  2. The rainbow represents G-d's glory, as it is written (Yechezkel 1:28), "Like the appearance of a bow that would be in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of brilliance all around. That was the appearance of the glory of Hashem." A king does not show his glory when he is angry.
  3. The rainbow represents a warrior's (G-d's) bow turned away from the enemy (man), showing that the battle is over. (Sefer Haberit, Part I, Essay 10, Ch. 12)
http://www.torah.org/learning/hamaayan/5758/noach.html#






1 comment:

  1. The author of your quote asks (about the rainbow being a sign of Hashem's anger over inappropriate behavior among mankind):
    "Is there any source for this?"

    Does he think Rashi just sucked that reasoning out of his thumb?!

    ReplyDelete